FCC Considers Improving Broadband Data Collection
The FCC will look at how to improve its collection of broadband data in a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) issued late Mon. The NPRM responds to concerns expressed many times by Comr. Copps that the Telecom Act-mandated Sec. 706 reports to Congress on broadband deployment aren’t based on appropriate measurements. The NPRM seeks comment on whether to change the speeds on which broadband data is based, how to improve data collected about wireless broadband service and VoIP, and “how the Commission can develop a more accurate picture of current broadband deployment,” including the use of “more accurate estimates of representative urban, metropolitan, exurban, low-income, tribal and rural areas.” It also will ask about price and international broadband deployment.
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Also late Mon., the FCC started the ball rolling for the 5th Sec. 706 report by issuing a notice of inquiry (NOI) asking questions such as how the agency should define broadband in light of changing technology, whether consumers are adopting new services and what the FCC can do to accelerate the rollout of broadband services. It will ask about investment trends and if consumers have a choice of competitors for broadband.
It’s “good news, bad news” that the agency is asking how to improve the gathering of broadband information, Copps said in a statement. “Reality is that it will be years before we will have the benefit of the kind of FCC data we need to fill the gaps,” he said. The “decade-long refusal to update our methodology” has taken its toll, Copps said. The delay in improving data collection “is just not an acceptable outcome when we are, by statute, charged with encouraging the deployment of advanced communications services to all our citizens.” However, “it is good news that the item we launch today, while late, is much, much better than its forerunners.”
“The broadband data NPRM we adopt today will allow the Commission to gain an even better picture of broadband deployment in this country,” said FCC Chmn. Martin. He said he’s proud of the Commission’s progress in encouraging broadband deployment but “there is more we can do.”